Internet from a Palm or a laptop over Sprint's network

I'm thinking of switching my number over to Sprint, but I want data
service for occasional email checking and web browsing. I've got a
Palm Tungsten T3, and a laptop that I'd like to connect to the
internet from. The Tungsten has Bluetooth, but I know that Sprint
currently doesn't have any Bluetooth phones.
So, if not over Bluetooth, how else can I connect? The tech. support
people were useless...
What's the service called, how much does it cost, and what kind of
cables/accessories do I need? Do any of the Sprint phones have an
Infrared port that I connect my Palm or a laptop to?

Any help on this topic is appreciated.

---

› See More: Internet from a Palm or a laptop over Sprint's network

It called vision. $15 a month gets you unlimited vision and $10 in credit
for use in the vision store each month. does NOT count against your minutes
or cost you anything per kb.

as for laptop internet. this is tricky. you need a cable (depends on your
phone) check out radio shack they carry future dial cables for around
$20-$25

also their is another site (I lost link can someone repost) that has cables
to fit most phones and your PDA.

you do need to use the service respectfully IE no downloading. if your just
doing e-mail and light web they should leave you alone.

if you abuse it they can and will shut it down (uses a huge amount of the
network bandwidth if you get abusive with it)

Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/


"Matt" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm thinking of switching my number over to Sprint, but I want data
> service for occasional email checking and web browsing. I've got a
> Palm Tungsten T3, and a laptop that I'd like to connect to the
> internet from. The Tungsten has Bluetooth, but I know that Sprint
> currently doesn't have any Bluetooth phones.
> So, if not over Bluetooth, how else can I connect? The tech. support
> people were useless...
> What's the service called, how much does it cost, and what kind of
> cables/accessories do I need? Do any of the Sprint phones have an
> Infrared port that I connect my Palm or a laptop to?
>
> Any help on this topic is appreciated.

Most Sprint phones use USB to communicate with. There is only one
source that I know of for a USB data cable that allows you to use your
Palm, but I have not been successful in getting the cable to work.

On 18 Dec 2003 23:54:06 -0800, [email protected] (Matt)
wrote:

>I'm thinking of switching my number over to Sprint, but I want data
>service for occasional email checking and web browsing. I've got a
>Palm Tungsten T3, and a laptop that I'd like to connect to the
>internet from. The Tungsten has Bluetooth, but I know that Sprint
>currently doesn't have any Bluetooth phones.
>So, if not over Bluetooth, how else can I connect? The tech. support
>people were useless...
>What's the service called, how much does it cost, and what kind of
>cables/accessories do I need? Do any of the Sprint phones have an
>Infrared port that I connect my Palm or a laptop to?
>
>Any help on this topic is appreciated.

On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 09:25:52 -0600, JAC <techguy94-at-mchsi-dot-com> wrote:

>Most Sprint phones use USB to communicate with.
I'd suggest you find someone who has this actually working. I've heard of
many who cannot.

> There is only one
>source that I know of for a USB data cable that allows you to use your
>Palm, but I have not been successful in getting the cable to work.
>
>On 18 Dec 2003 23:54:06 -0800, [email protected] (Matt)
>wrote:
>
>>I'm thinking of switching my number over to Sprint, but I want data
>>service for occasional email checking and web browsing. I've got a
>>Palm Tungsten T3, and a laptop that I'd like to connect to the
>>internet from. The Tungsten has Bluetooth, but I know that Sprint
>>currently doesn't have any Bluetooth phones.
>>So, if not over Bluetooth, how else can I connect? The tech. support
>>people were useless...
>>What's the service called, how much does it cost, and what kind of
>>cables/accessories do I need? Do any of the Sprint phones have an
>>Infrared port that I connect my Palm or a laptop to?

AFAIK, no.

>>
>>Any help on this topic is appreciated.

The Sprint solution is for you to replace your PDA, which I am
underthrilled with.

--
Nobody but a fool goes into a federal counterrorism operation without duct tape - Richard Preston, THE COBRA EVENT.

Matt, I have done this a couple of ways. As one user suggested, you can use
a Futuredial cable from radio shak to tether a few models of phones to your
laptop. I found two issues with this though:
1) My need was to log in to our corporate FTP site and down/up load various
files, as well as check email and the like. I found the phone connection
was not reliable for FTP purposes, heavy duty data transfer it would not
handle. Not everyone has had this experience, however.

2) Second, if you search this NG, there is an ongoing discussion amind a
very confusing contradictory completely inconsistent Sprint policy as to
whether or not you are "allowed" to do this if you have a vision plan. The
prevailing wisdom is that if your use is intermittent and light you probably
won't get hammered, but its a risk. By hammered I mean get data transfer
back charges of a few cents a kilobyte / 39 cents a minute. No one knows
for sure, although someone in the NG a month or three back reported getting
hammered hundreds of dollars for such data use.

Based on these two issueis, I discontinued my use of the cable/phone
connection and bought the Merlin card ($200-$300?) and signed up for $80 a
month unlimited service. I don't know if they still offer that. Coverage
has been very good here in Florida. Speeds are variable. In general, in
some but not all rural areas, I have connect speeds about dialup speed. In
other areas, in towns, in general, speeds are closer to ISDN, 64K to
96K, as measured from actual FTP file transfer rates.

In my opinion, its a good service



"Matt" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm thinking of switching my number over to Sprint, but I want data
> service for occasional email checking and web browsing. I've got a
> Palm Tungsten T3, and a laptop that I'd like to connect to the
> internet from. The Tungsten has Bluetooth, but I know that Sprint
> currently doesn't have any Bluetooth phones.
> So, if not over Bluetooth, how else can I connect? The tech. support
> people were useless...
> What's the service called, how much does it cost, and what kind of
> cables/accessories do I need? Do any of the Sprint phones have an
> Infrared port that I connect my Palm or a laptop to?
>
> Any help on this topic is appreciated.